Bill Bratton reprises his biggest role–NYPD Commissioner–under the direction of a mayor the polar opposite of Rudy Giuliani. As this piece, Making of a Police Visionary, suggests, the thoughtful and pragmatic Bratton, a police leader who aligns policy to circumstances and goals while delegating authority and discretion to subordinates, will very likely get the job done.
Coddling Domestic Abuser Cops
Ten years ago in a store parking lot, the Tacoma, Washington police chief, whose troubled domestic history was known to colleagues, killed his wife and then himself in front of their two young kids. This story shows the staying power of attitudes conducive to sweeping police officer domestic violence under the rug.
Debtor’s Prison?
Are not these jail cells better utilized for felony suspects, or has Tulsa run out of those? Increasing number going to jail for not paying fines – Tulsa World: Local.
‘Cause Men Are From Mars?
Women are far less involved in corporate crime than men says this study. Criminality aside, men tend to take bigger risks more often and cut more corners than their female counterparts. No surprise that “London Whales” and “Masters of the Universe” attend “Predators Balls” in the testoterone-fueled, frat house culture so consistently described by any number of insider books about the world of high finance. A recent post here noted Harvard Business School’s attempt to get women to adopt in-your-face posturing that vault men to the top of the business world. This we need more of?
City of Sea
So this long-term Seattle Public Utilities employee stole a million by depositing checks intended for the city into his personal account. Read closely to count how controls failed–the city allowed the employee to issue invoices and accept payments directly, developers/property owners didn’t realize their checks were going to a “City of Sea” account set up by the employee in a bank whose own controls seem to have been lax. One thing fraud investigators should look for is spoofing nomenclature, bogus accounts and phantom vendors indicating that individuals may be redirecting organizational resources to themselves.
When Men Murder Women
This one is for readers involved in criminal justice research, including related areas such as domestic violence. The message here for women in relationships gone south is pretty stark, and the data in this report could also be looked at in other ways or built upon to explore differences in region, state by state gun-ownership and so on. This post initiates a new category in this blog–public policy issues–that those in policy and administration fields may find particularly interesting.
Delegitimized Government
This story about nose-diving confidence in government workers connects to the one directly below. Keep banging those bureaucrat-bashing drums, defunding operations and railing about everyone’s tax dollars being wasted and sooner or later respect for government in general and its scapegoated workers in particular will take a dive.
Cash Strapped IG’s
The “no tax increases ever, for anything, shrink government” forces, epitomized by Grover Norquist of Americans For Tax Reform and its “Taxpayer Protection Pledge,” are getting what they wished for — debilitated, declining government. Witness the inspector general function, where less money to investigate means more problems festering for anti-government types to decry. Or cut the state motor vehicle registry to the bone, as I just saw first hand in Massachusetts, to produce three to four hour waits for the simplest transaction causing angry motorists to glare non-stop, mutter epithets and game the clerks who, in response to this perpetual onslaught, work even slower and deploy an arsenal of stock retorts and blank stares to fend off livid customers. This only provides more fodder for government critics, calls for more tax and budget cuts and a greater likelihood of a performance death spiral that further alienates the public and delegitimizes government. As a result, fewer care when bankruptcy comes to cities such as Detroit, major counties such as Jefferson in Alabama, with even states, such as Illinois, find themselves in the fiscal ICU, a trend nicely chronicled last year in the Daily Kos. Defund schools, demoralize teachers, diminish education. Go after public safety pensions so police who feel their pockets being picked compensate by backing off our protection. The tax scolds are happily sowing what they have reaped and, as doctrinaire true believers, don’t see the mess being created for everyone, including them.
Non-Profit Prince Perp-Walks
It’s a old story in non-profit organizations. Charismatic leader reigns for decades largely unfettered by the volunteer board of directors duly impressed with the public monies rolling across the non-profit’s governmental interface that the CEO seems to be working so well. Well, according to prosecutors in this case, much of what was greasing the wheels was illegal and many pockets, not the least of which was the CEO’s, were allegedly being stuffed with cash.
Pinstriped Wall Update–New Orleans
A few items ago I blogged about prosecutorial misconduct sinking convictions as angry judges freed, or ordered new trials for, the defendants involved. Well, what’s been sunk so far are rowboats compared to this: In the Costa Concordia of reversals a federal judge has ordered new trials for the New Orleans cops implicated in covering up the police massacre of unarmed civilians on the Danziger Bridge in the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The judge called the prosecutors conduct “grotesque,” much as the headline in the accompanying article characterizes the police shootings as “notorious.” What a day for the criminal justice system.